As part of the announcement, officials dubbed him the No. 1 seed for the upcoming season-seven lightweight tournament, which is expected to kick off in September.

Sarnavskiy, who trains with some current Bellator fighters at RusFighters Sport Club, enters the organization with a perfect 20-0 record and 17 stoppage wins.

If victorious in the season-seven tourney, which will include eight fighters and run 12 weeks, Sarnavskiy would get a guaranteed title shot.

“Alexander Shlemenko has put a high standard of Russian dominance in Bellator by winning two middleweight tournaments,” Sarnavskiy stated. “Now my teammate Andrey Koreshkov fights for Bellator as well, and he recently won two fights by spectacular KOs. Vitaly Minakov also just signed with Bellator, and I expect him to become Bellator’s next heavyweight champion.

“I want to follow in the footsteps of those men, and make Bellator proud.”

Sarnavskiy turned pro in late 2008 and fought numerous times for M-1 Global. Among his 20 career wins, he’s posted six knockouts and 11 submissions. Although he’s fought primarily in his native Russia, he made two recent U.S. appearances with M-1 and submitted both Beau Baker (March 2011) and Sergio Cortez (December).

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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